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<div class="htitle">iGEM
Boilerplate
</div>
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<div class="htitle">iGEM
, a brief history
</div>
<div class="innertextbox">
<div class="innertextbox">
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<
p>The International Genetically Engineered Machine competition (iGEM) is the premiere undergraduate Synthetic Biology competition. Student teams are given a kit of biological parts at the beginning of the summer from the Registry of Standard Biological Parts. Working at their own schools over the summer, they use these parts and new parts of their own design to build biological systems and operate them in living cells. This project design and competition format is an exceptionally motivating and effective teaching method. </
p>
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<p>
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<p>iGEM began in January
of
2003 with a month-long course during
MIT's
Independent Activities Period (IAP)
. The
students designed biological systems to make cells blink.
This design course grew to a summer competition with 5 teams in 2004,
13
teams
in 2005 - the first year that the competition grew internationally,
32
teams
in
2006
,
54
teams in
2007
,
84 teams in 2008, 112 teams in 2009, 130 teams in 2010
, and
165 teams in 2011. Projects ranged from a rainbow of pigmented bacteria,
to
banana and wintergreen smelling bacteria, an arsenic biosensor, Bactoblood, buoyant bacteria, and more
. </p>
+
<p>
iGEM, the International Genetically Engineered Machine Competition, is the largest synthetic biology community and the premiere synthetic biology competition for both university and high school level students. iGEM inspires learning and innovation in synthetic biology through education, competition and by maintaining an open library of standard biological parts, the Registry of Standard Biological Parts.
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We are proud to say that over 18,000 of the brightest young scientists and engineers have participated in iGEM as students, instructors, or advisors.
+
iGEM began in January 2003 with a month-long course during
MIT’s
Independent Activities Period (IAP)
where
students designed biological systems to make cells blink. This
university
design course
then
grew to a summer competition with 5 teams in 2004
. 10 years later
,
we’ve grown to 245
teams
from over
32
countries.
+
The High School Division was introduced
in
2011
,
allowing high school student
teams
to experience iGEM
in
ways that fit the schedules
,
resources
, and
structures available
to
high school teams
. </p>
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<p>
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<p> In 2012, iGEM spun out of MIT and
in September 2013 iGEM Foundation
became an independent nonprofit
501(c)3
organization located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.
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In 2012, iGEM spun out of MIT and became an independent nonprofit organization located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.
The
iGEM
Foundation fosters scientific research
and
education through organizing
and
operating
the iGEM
Competition
, the
premier student synthetic biology competition. It also fosters scientific research
and
education by establishing
and
operating
the
Registry
of
Standard Biological Parts, a community collection of biological components
.
The organization promotes
the
advancement of science
and
education by developing an open community of students and practitioners in schools, laboratories, research institutes
, and
industry. The iGEM community has
a
long history of involving students and the public
in the
development of the
new
field of synthetic biology
.
+
iGEM
teams participated in a tiered system from 2011 – 2013, with teams competing at the regional level in United States, Europe,
and
Asia
and the
top teams advancing to the World Championship in Boston, Massachusetts. In 2014,
iGEM
held the first Giant Jamboree
,
eliminating
the
regional competitions
and
invited all participants to attend
and
compete at this one grand event. With over 2300 participants in attendance,
the
2014 Giant Jamboree was the largest gathering
of
synthetic biologists to-date
.
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</p>
+
What to expect in 2015 - we will be combining
the
Collegiate
and
High School Divisions
, and
introducing
a
High School Track
in the
Giant Jamboree event. Also more
new
tracks – Art & Design, Hardware, etc
. </p>
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<p>
For
the
iGEM 2012
competition
we have 190 teams and over 3000 participants
from
34 countries world-wide taking part in
the
competition
.
They will specify
, design
,
build,
and
test
simple biological systems made from standard
,
interchangeable biological parts
.
The accomplishments
of
these student
teams
during one summer
are
often impressive
and
will lead
to
important advances in medicine, energy
, and the
environment
. </p>
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<h4>The competition: </h4>
+
<p>
Combining molecular biology techniques with engineering concepts, students work in interdisciplinary team to create novel biological systems. At the beginning of
the competition
season, each registered team is given a kit of 1000+ standard interchangeable parts called BioBricks
from the
Registry of Standard Biological Parts
.
Working at their own schools
,
teams use these parts and new parts of their own
design
to
build, test,
and characterize genetically engineered systems and operate them in living cells in an effort to address real-world issues
.
Along with submitting their newly created BioBricks to the Registry
of
Standard Biological Parts,
teams are
required to actively consider the safety implications of their work
and
document their projects on team wiki pages. At the end of the competition season, teams converge at the Jamboree event
to
showcase their research. Teams present their work through posters and oral presentations
, and
compete for prizes and awards, such as
the
coveted BioBrick trophy. </p>
+
+
<h4> The Registry: </h4>
+
<p>The iGEM Registry of Standard Biological Parts is the world’s largest collection of open source DNA parts called BioBricks®. These parts all meet an established standard to ensure compatibility between parts, allowing them to be assembled together to build novel genetically engineered systems
.
The Registry contains the world’s largest collection of BioBricks, with over 20,000 specified genetic parts.
+
The Registry of Standard Biological Parts is built on a ‘Get, Give & Share’ philosophy. iGEM competition participants and participating academic labs can request parts from the Registry for use. They then give back data and new parts to the repository to share with the community.
</p>
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<p>
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In the fall, teams will come together to present their summer projects and to compete for awards and prizes. Teams will first compete in Regional Jamborees in their region (Europe, Asia, Latin America, Americas-East, Americas-West) taking place in Amsterdam, Hong Kong, and Bogota, Colombia on October 5-7, 2012, and in Pittsburgh and Palo Alto on October 12-14, 2012. A percentage of teams advance to the World Championship Jamboree held on November 2-5, 2012 in Cambridge, MA, USA.
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</p>
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<p>
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In 2011, iGEM introduced a High School Division that will focus on finding ways for high school student teams to enjoy iGEM in ways that fit the schedules, resources, and structures available to high school teams. The iGEM 2012 High School Division Jamboree was held in June 2012 in Greenfield, Indiana. Attendees included the teams from the United States, Canada, Mexico, Germany, and Turkey and virtual participants from the United States and China. The High School Division will continue with a 2013 competition. See www.igem.org/HS for more details about the iGEM High School Division.</p>
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<p>
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In 2012, iGEM launched an Entrepreneurship Division. Students compete over the summer to work on the topic of startup companies in Synthetic Biology. Teams focus their work on areas such as Business Plans, Economic and Business Models, Industry Development, Business and Regulation and work with team members that range from undergraduate students in science and engineering to law students, to social scientists. For 2012 there are 15 teams registered to participate and the Jamboree will be held on November 5, 2012 in Cambridge, MA, USA.
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</p>
<p>
<p>